FF: Traveling and Reading

I was on the road this past weekend. This gave me a lot of time for stories – both via audio and in print.

Just in case you don’t know… The Friday Fragments feature lists of what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include either short fiction or magazine articles.

Pack Me, Too!

The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a few opinions tossed in.

Recently Completed:

Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man by Wendelin Van Draanen. Mystery interwoven with over-the-top junior high politics. Both were well-resolved. The author is showing a talent for sneaking in “messages,” without ever preaching. This time, the consequences of smoking were featured.

A Boy Named Shel by Lisa Rogak. I knew Shel Silverstein had written rock and roll lyrics, as well as the strange children’s books that are perhaps his most prominent current legacy. Had no idea he wrote “A Boy Named Sue,” or that he lived in the Playboy mansion or… Well-written look at a very eclectic and diverse artist/writer.

Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Sky by Diana Wynne Jones. Audiobooks. Inspired by Alan Robson and my recent Tangents, Jim suggested we listen to these during our drive. Both are very enjoyable; Castle in the Sky is not a “sequel” in the traditional sense to the first book.

Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper. Fourth in her “Dark is Rising” sequence. I’d read before, but enjoyed the revist.

Naruto issue 69 by Masahi Kishimoto. Manga. Continues the climax to the storyline.

The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones. Audiobook. I left this one at home, so I haven’t quite finished. It’s interesting, though. The Egg of the title has been found, but that’s clearly not the only Pinhoe secret.

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan issue 20 by Hiroshi Shiibashi.

Also:

I’d like to re-read The Tao de Ching. Maybe make that bedtime reading?

4 Responses to “FF: Traveling and Reading”

Currently reading ebook of “Why We Love Serial Killers” by Scott Bonn, a look into the psychology of why the public tends to elevate them to “rock star” status. Bonn (so far) is blaming new media, law enforcement and the entertainment industry (linking Jeffrey Dahmer with “Silence of the Lambs,” for instance).

The translation does make a difference. Stephen Mitchell’s is quite good in many respects but he takes a lot of artistic license with some verses. Reading Aleister Crowley’s version was interesting, too, albeit more for the translator’s notoriety than the strength of his translation. One of my favorites was actually a special cheap edition put out by Penguin books on their 60th anniversary (back in 1995-1996), but I can’t recall the translator’s name off-hand and I don’t have it with me.
I haven’t read Ursula K. LeGuin’s version, yet. I hadn’t even known that she’d done one. I’ll have to acquire a copy when I get back to the U.S.